Closing a Chapter

 

What started 8 years ago just ended today. I picked Peanut up from Piedmont Progressive Preschool for the last time. Not only was it his last day of preschool, but after attending off and on since we moved to Charlotte, it was my last day of going to preschool.

We found PPP, and fell in love with it, our first summer here and it was one of the first places that I made friends. In fact, the very first person I met in Charlotte, S, told me about the school and then, when we ended up buying a house and I began to hunt for a close preschool, I found it again and was so excited to see S again at the preschool open house. Our families quickly became friends and have had so much fun watching our children grow up together.

That first year, while Bean was playing at school, Bug and I joined a playgroup of younger siblings and moms, where we both found more friends who he would later go to preschool with, and even on to Corvian with some of them. We've stayed in touch with so many of our preschool friends over the years, with park meetups, 4-H, running races together, Rita's gatherings, and PPP fundraisers.

With each child there, we expanded our circle, but it has always been a special community for me. It's where I found my crunchy friends--where my cloth diapering, extended breast feeding, weird eating habits, and alternative ideas about education were all completely normal. People have been bringing quinoa cookies and honey-sweetened desserts to PPP potlucks long before grain-free was common. PPP is where we learned about zero-waste lunches and how powerful play is. It's where I started reading Alphie Kohn and gained the confidence to homeschool that first year, and eventually to do all that I had to to get my kids into a charter school that fit.

PPP has shaped me as much as it shaped my kids, which is why I was in tears as I had to say goodbye to these two women who have been there for all 3 of my kids. My babies are growing up, and while we will come back to visit, it feels strange to think that we are done with preschool.

Preschool Parties

December was a busy month for this guy!

They had pajama day the first week of December.

Peanut was pretty excited to wear his pj's to school. Bug was pretty excited that they still do it since he was the one who started it when Bean was in elementary school and got to have pajama day and he REALLY wanted to do it, too, so he begged his teachers until they picked a day and declared it pajama day.

 

Then, they had Stone Soup day just before break.

I went in early so I could get some pictures of the kids playing before the feast.

I think the kids all enjoyed sharing a meal, even if a lot of them weren't all that excited about the soup, haha.

Such a great little preschool.

Founder's Day Parade

It's hard to believe that this is our third time through the preschool rituals (here is Bean's parade, and here is Bugs last one). And even harder to believe that this is our last time. Peanut got to celebrate the school's beginnings this last week.

 

It's funny to me that what is really such a small parade (about 30 kids and their teachers with hats and musical instruments) and short ceremony is such a big deal to them. It really is all in the perspective, and to Peanut, this was a large event.

 

He was so excited about making his hat and that he was going to get to wear it in the parade.

The scale of it all was probably perfect for him--he gets a little overwhelmed by large groups of people and noise, so for him, this was big, and I could tell he felt a little nervous about it all, but also pretty excited to participate. 

We absolutely love his teachers.

They are both phenomenal with the kids and so fun.

We will forever be grateful to these two women who started this preschool about 15 years ago. All of our kids have thrived in the environment they created.

The kids got to mulch and water the "school tree".

Then, they sang a couple of their favorite class songs for us. Some of the kids sang. A lot smiled and looked cute and let their teachers carry the music part.

And that was it. Yay for simple and sweet and letting the kids be a part of something that is fun for them and doesn't go on long enough to lose their interest.

Another First Day

 (I asked him to hold up "4" for his age, but of course one hand wasn't enough.  Gotta go big.)

We've had a couple conversations in the last week reminiscent of last year where Bug tried to tell me he didn't want to go to preschool, but luckily, once he started, he's decided its really fun and has been having a blast with his friends.

 The mulch pile at the beginning of the year is always a big hit.  The kids are a little sad once it finally gets spread around the playground.

 And of course, its just too fun to try out all the daredevil stunts that make me so nervous to watch.  But he knows what he can do and is pretty careful.

 And of course its been fun to see all his friends from last year.  There are 16 kids in the 4's/5's class and 10 are from last years class, so it has been a fun reunion.

Hard to believe next year he'll be in Kindergarten!

First Day of Preschool

A little later than everyone else started, but he jumped right in and his teachers said it was like he'd been in the class the whole time.

Goofy as always.

Bummer Weekend

It's just been one of those weekends. Daddy-o broke his ankle sliding into third base. He doesn't have to have a real cast, but he is on crutches and supposed to stay off it for awhile. It should be healed in 6 weeks. We tried to officially start going diaper free with Bugaboo--he's been peeing on the potty irregularly for months now, so I thought it was going to be easy and fast, but 2.5 days into it, he pretty much has an accident every time I put any article of clothing on his lower half, so unless he's going to be a nudist, he is not ready for the world without diapers. Bean and I spent all Saturday morning at a church service project, which was great, but between that and Daddy-o's visit to the Urgent Care and the silent auction at Bean's school last night, we got no yard work done on what is usually the best day of the week to get stuff done. And we still have 3 piles of yard supplies sitting in our driveway. We were so excited last night to make our first "real" art purchase. The classes at the school each do a painting to auction off and these are usually the big ticket items of the night. Well, Bean's class painting turned out absolutely AWESOME. We decided we really wanted it, so we outbid another mother who also really wanted it, and got to bring it home and were elated because it looks really great in our house. And then Bean informed us that she didn't help with that one at all. There were a few others, fun things but not quite as striking, or in as good of colors for our house, that they were selling after the auction and she did a lot on a couple of those, but maybe not this one. I'm so dissappointed. And feel really bad about taking something that another mom, whose son probably did help with it, really wanted. I'm not sure I want to keep this $200 reminder of that. I may actually talk to the other mom on Monday and see if she wants to buy it from us. (But now Bean is saying she did do it. Not sure if that's because she wants us to keep it, or if her first reaction was because we showed her that we got the painting instead of the bucket of fun outside toys which is what she wanted us to buy.) But the painting really is beautiful.

Grandma Comes to Visit

Daddy-o's mom came out for a busy, fun week with us. We've had lunch at the preschool, spent a couple days playing tourist, and Daddy-o and I even got away for a night in Chapel Hill and a trip to the temple there. While we enjoyed sleeping in and leisurely meals, the kids had a movie night with Grandma, a morning at the park, and pretended they were moving to San Diego (still a favorite game of Bean's.)
Thank you, Grandma! We're going to miss you!

First Day of School

Bean started preschool today. And she was happier about it than the picture indicates--we just had a hard time getting a smile for the picture right before we went in. I thought I should try again tomorrow, but then you'd miss the whole first-day-of-school outfit she put together. For some reason, she loves wearing that red tank top with her green checked skirt.

It wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be. But maybe that is because I never actually left the building. They only go for an hour the first two days, so Bugaboo and I just hung out across the hall in the room they'd set up for the parents. I think the first time I drop her off at the playground and leave will be different. For me--she couldn't care less. When I tell her I'm a little sad that she's going to be in school now, she just asks, "Why? I'm coming back. You don't have to be sad about it." I'm glad she's so excited for this and confident about it. I just feel like its one step closer to the day that she leaves home and doesn't come back. I'm going to miss my little sidekick. We've been hanging out together every day for over 4 years now--I don't think there is anyone else I could ever have said that about, except my own mom.

I'm just glad I still have my little Bug around. Now he and I will get some quality time together, and maybe he can teach me more of this language of his.